_Family Romance, LLC_ is a robot movie that goes through the motions but has no real heart or soul. The story of a man who runs a small agency that rents out family members feels more like an anthology film with one recurring story. Not a bad film but too mechanical to feel sincere.

[MUBI] Renting families. Renting feelings. Werner Herzog's concept is more interesting as an idea than in its development. Performing improvisations are sometimes as artificial as the fish robots. The "documentary" look is more effective in some scenes (the oracle, the call to the wind ...). This is a shocking look towards a society that mostly reveals real feelings through lies.

Slices of life of a man whose job is to be a friend/family member to rent. Main thread is him playing a girl's dead father at the mother's request. In between are other works of him or other people in his company, and him pondering about his real life. Concept is interesting, though I guess it would not be a concept for japanese people. The style is a little documentary like, cut sequences without intro or outro and no real link in between. It deals with all the subjects you would expect, notably the fear of losing himself as he's always playing someone else, and what happens if the relationship goes too far as we follow the evolution of the relationship with his contract daughter. The tone is mostly cute and touching with the daughter, but these parts are really slow and contemplative, nothing much happens. There's not much interest in the first business like scenes with the mother but the last one [spoiler]where she goes all out trying to get him to replace the father for real[/spoiler] is very good. The other scenes with his coworkers have little interest. It's a little more somber when he's by himself, as he's struggling with his identity. Some funny scenes when we get to see other jobs like playing the bride's father at a wedding because the real one is too drunk, or playing paparazzi in the street for a wannabe idol. The whole thing is interesting, though a little slow and long, and it starts to drag on after the first half. I kinda lost interest after a scene where he spends five minutes looking at robotic fishes swim in a aquarium.